Hope and Grief with Chorusgirl
In times of great need, there's always music. Whether you're the one listening to it or making it, or even both, great comfort can be found in those majickal soundwaves. Coming up against both outside and inside forces, this is the case for the new album by Chorusgirl called 'Colapso Calypso'.
Chorusgirl is the musical alias of German songwriter and producer Silvi Wersing. The project began in 2014 and much of her career was shaped and grown in London and on tour around the UK. Her eponymous debut album, released in 2017, and its follow-up, ‘Shimmer and Spin’ were both recorded at Cologne’s Bear Cave Studios in Germany. Though various live and studio musicians would contribute to the sound and success of Chorusgirl, the band finished promoting their second album at the end of 2019 with Udo Westhoff on bass, guitarist Laura Ankles and drummer Sagar Patel.
In August 2020, Wersing would perform solo as Chorusgirl for At The Edge Of The Sofa, an online livestream festival in place of its usual At The Edge Of The Sea in Brighton. Continuing solo would be the course of action for Chorusgirl’s latest album, 'Colapso Calypso'.
Multiple factors would affect the making of the record, with the pandemic removing the involvement of Silvi’s bandmates, as well as stretching its original release from 2020 to 2022. More personally, Wersing would suffer a nervous breakdown and return to her hometown in Germany during this period, becoming a full-time carer for her Dad whose life is marred by mid-stage Dementia.
Producing the album at home, Chorusgirl has created their new music videos and promoted the album from Germany. Though there is less likelihood of live performances due to the presence of Covid-19, Chorusgirl has hinted there could be some gigs to promote their new album in 2023. 'Colapso Calypso' was released on the 14th of October, and is available on CD, vinyl and all the usual streaming and downloading platforms. The album begins with ‘Your Version Of The Truth Will Set You Free’.
‘This winter lasts forever in what seems a dismal year, I have learned to keep my spirits up. Practical and magical and existential fears, we shall choose to keep our eyes wide shut.’
With the idea of playing live off the table, this album opener alters the traditional band arrangement by stripping away the notion of a rhythm section. By doing so, Chorusgirl lays bare the brilliant structure of guitar layering that can be heard throughout this record. Listen carefully through the acoustic-like strumming of her crunchy rhythm guitar. Even in the first verse, multiple guitar lines are woven around the song’s pillar.
The arrangement also allows the listener to pay closer attention to Wersing’s lyrics, which are written as if they were therapy and read like poetry. Especially in the second and final verse, which is permeated by the sound of singing birds and anointed with a cascade of synth:
‘Expect the worst, still hoping for the best, silver linings can be hard to find, so here it is, an olive branch to give your mind a rest.’
‘I got my eyes on you, you excavate your hidden truth, your nightmares may seem like transmissions from a dream.’
‘In The Business Of Dreams’ is Colapso Calypso’s third single, released in September. Lyrically, this song is inspired by the David Lynch film ‘Mulholland Drive’ (2001), which in turn was inspired by ‘Sunset Boulevard’ (1950), one of Silvi Wersing’s favourite films.
‘Dig deeper for those precious human feelings.’
‘Dreams’ centres on the idea that career artists use their vulnerabilities as part of their art, which is packaged into a commodity for entertainment value, and is sometimes detrimental to the artist themselves. As consumers of art, we’re all guilty of enjoying moments of artists baring their souls, summed up well by a recurring line in the song:
‘How you turned that self-loathing into gold, a show stopping performance, I’ve been told.’
The infectious melody is first fleshed out by Chorusgirl’s picked electric guitar, which follows the quiet and watery flanged sound bringing an early calm to the track. Chorusgirl reintroduces programmed drums and a solid bassline, immediately conjuring the image of an audience dancing. It’s a special skill for any artist to approach a serious lyrical subject with such a sense of fun, but Chorusgirl has done just that with ‘In The Business Of Dreams’.
Perhaps one of the most fascinating pieces of music on 'Colapso Calypso' comes in the form of ‘Minimum Descent Altitude’, an aviation term to mean the lowest altitude a pilot can fly without visual aid when coming in to land. Also the shortest, this is the only track on the album to not feature the voice of Chorusgirl.
The rhythm is set from the start, with the track’s tone cast by an arpeggiated synthesizer, the output of both sounding as if you’re hearing it with your hands over your ears, like a slow-motion walk through a dream. Chorusgirl’s first guitar part is damning, with her other layers from the same instrument providing more light and shade. ‘Minimum Descent Altitude’ is an interesting experiment in how music can make a listener feel without the instruction of lyrics, how imagery creates itself in the mind with a carefully constructed musical prompt.
For Colapso Calypso’s first single, Chorusgirl explores the theme of time travel, to try and save someone from their doom. Unfortunately, that certain doom prevents that person from being saved, so the character tries and tries again, failing each time. It’s called ‘Don’t Go Back To ‘89’.
‘Obsession mixed with purpose, don’t scratch the perfect surface, restless but forgiving, I need you to be living, dying’s not an option here.’
Chorusgirl takes a more casual approach in her tempo, giving more space to her lyric. Her drum programming largely focuses on the toms, and her guitar work is reminiscent of the jangly sounds of the 1980’s, helped along by the occasional use of a whirling sci-fi synth.
The music video for ‘Don’t Go Back To ‘89’ was created by Lucy Ann Watkins. Forgoing a more action-based take on Chorusgirl’s lyric, this abstract video uses animation, drawing on the Groundhog Day-like part of the theme to demonstrate the character’s futile attempt at a rescue.
‘Heart on my sleeve, it has always been thus, you liked what you saw, no one’s causing a fuss. You think I’m mellow, but I’m blue, sharp, not shallow, punished and ready, not shaken nor steady.’
Introverts, unite! Chorusgirl has written a song about how it feels to be such a person when in the presence of confident and outgoing people. Musically, ‘Three Prayers For Those Without Self-Doubt’ is more straight forward, a song with more of a core-band sound. However, carefully mixed in are layers of percussion, some tambourine to boost the drum kit, and shaker to remind an introvert how socialising feels.
Listen closely for some creative mixing from Jan Niklas Jansen of Bear Cave Studio. Chorusgirl’s first verse keeps her vocal front and centre, but for half of the second verse, it’s split in two either side of the listener for a slightly disorientating effect, ‘Sugar and spice are magnificent lies, steel and cement, a more accurate blend.’
‘There are a million stars that shine, shine a light on you, shine a light tonight, shine for no one else but you.’
There is almost certainly a generation that grew up when every house had a VHS collection that remembers how unsettling the ‘Elephants On Parade’ scene in ‘Dumbo’ (1941) was. ‘Pink Elephants’ is both inspired by that scene, and the feeling of being a few drinks down at the disco and just bloody well enjoying yourself.
‘There are a million ways to show that I don’t care tonight, I’m just dancing here, drink my drink to no one I know.’
With these thoughts in mind, they can be expressed in two sides. The keyboard driven music overtakes Chorusgirl’s mainstay guitar instruments, playing the melody and giving it that hallucinatory sound, while the lyric divulges the situation, both sides giving the complete story. The harsher chords scatter like ball-bearings dropped on glass, while picked bass guitar chugs in a more stable rhythm section. A real abstract piece on 'Colapso Calypso', ‘Pink Elephants’ sucks you in and sends you on a journey that is darkness painted in an explosion of colour.
Colapso Calypso’s second single is ‘Heart Of Glue’, which is featured in an accompanying video made by Chorusgirl using beautiful footage she shot around her rural hometown. The song itself makes reference to her recovery in the wake of her breakdown:
‘A heart of glue, no grand design, no truth, just me and you, struggling through.’
Similar to the album’s opener, the first half of the song is largely absent of a rhythmic accompaniment. However, Chorusgirl’s drum programming here from the chorus onwards is a well-oiled machine. The guitar melody anchors the song while synths drip into this track like ink in water. The rolling drums in the song’s final verse, as well the additional vocal accompaniment is a momentum building moment that ends too soon for this listener.
‘I tried very hard to capture and cultivate the art of mending this fracture…’
We can all relate to those nights when you’re lying awake and every bad thing you’ve ever done comes back to haunt you and you feel nothing but guilt or embarrassment. This is Chorusgirl’s take on that, set in her home in South London before returning to Germany during the pandemic.
‘In the middle of the night, in the back of my mind, a skeleton from a full closet says hi, when my morals are drifting and the shadows are shifting.’
Despite its subject matter, ‘Sleepless In South London’ has an uplifting melody, its lyrical content not reflected in its sunnier disposition. This is a particular skill of Chorusgirl’s, taking an uncomfortable topic and writing around it a reason to not be engulfed by it, whether that may be in a musical or lyrical idea. ‘Sleepless In South London’ is perhaps a single that never was, or has yet to be?
‘Bring me some nightmares, I’ll convert them for you, turn them into dreams, you’ll love them, you do.’
‘Look At Everything, Understand Nothing’ is a song directly referring to her father’s illness, its lead instrument is an accordion owned by her Dad, handed down to him by his Dad. The breathing sound at the start is air being taken into the instrument, a melody that Chorusgirl improvised and then built the rest of the song around. The spoken words are a mantra for those who understand the nature of this illness or have experienced it with a loved one. This is amongst the most special pieces of music on ‘Colapso Calypso’.
Research shows more and more the positive impact of music on people with dementia, bringing forth lyrics and melodies sixty years old when they don’t recognise someone they’ve spent decades with. It only reflects how much our society values music throughout our lives, and how that never really goes away.
‘Grief is a circle, you’ll always go round, I’m rooting for you, for you to be found…’
For Colapso Calypso’s finale, Chorusgirl conjures a spell of hope and resilience for herself and her listener, ending the album on a high note. ‘Into Gold’ brings back Chorusgirl’s guitar army, stronger than before, beginning with clean guitar reverberating alone before being joined by the rhythm section.
Fuzzier guitar plays lone chords in a break while the clean variant climbs to the song’s chorus. It’s during these sections where Chorusgirl’s guitar layers peak, rising up and threatening to overwhelm the listener, as any moment of courage always does. The distant, ringing coda is surely the sigh of relief in the aftermath. You did it <3
‘Bring strength to the cauldron, cast your magic spell, conjure a spirit, in time you will tell, no, let’s take it slow, show how far you can go, turn into gold.’
Continue reading for our Q&A with Chorusgirl. We ask about the making of ‘Colapso Calypso’, including Silvi Wersing’s production techniques, looking at several songs in particular, and the possibility of her performing them live. All this and more below!
1. Your latest album 'Colapso Calypso' is your first since 2018, what was the timeframe of working on this album? What was the first song you worked on?
My time frames are always really long. I will often revive old demos or use old snippets and rework them. Album work always spans several years. The oldest song on this album is Pink Elephants, the origins of which are 10 years old.
2. This record was entirely self-produced at home, what does your recording set-up consist of? Are you using amp simulators for your guitar sounds?
I’m not too proud to say that I use a 15-year-old MacBook with an old version of Garageband. When I first started using this, it set me free creatively. I could explore producing demos by myself in my own time, without having to spend years learning a complex software. I’m really more interested in ideas rather than hardware, and whatever I use needs to serve my ideas. I’m not a trained musician at all, so I work by lots of layering and taking a long time exploring many sound options. I always think more of myself as an editor than a musician.
Garageband does get a bad rep, but it is known to have freed particularly women creatively. Recording is a male-dominated environment. Like many artists, I also had a really bad studio experience in a professional recording studio when I was in my late 20s, and it made me nearly want to quit music. You’d be surprised how common this is amongst artists. It took my friends, who had just set up their own studio (Bear Cave in Cologne, Germany), to coax me back in and show me how great and affirming studio time can be. They were extremely supportive of my songwriting from the early stages and were crucial to me starting Chorusgirl as my solo songwriting and recording project. (I can’t recommend them highly enough; their studio is beautiful and working with them is wonderful).
3. You've explored different instrumentation on this record, most evident in 'Your Version Of The Truth Will Set You Free'. Was this a reaction to the current events in your life? Would these songs have altered arrangements if circumstances were different?
I had originally planned to work with Laura, Sag and Udo on this album, who are all in the Chorusgirl live band, and as usual I had planned to record a few bits in Bear Cave Studio in Cologne. But then the pandemic hit, and I ended up moving in with my Dad, who has mid-stage dementia, to become his carer and look after him. Since I wasn’t sure where I was going to live in the long term, I decided to make Chorusgirl a solo project again, which is how I started out when I made most of the debut album. This meant I didn’t have to worry about performing the songs, and it completely freed me up to just use whatever instrumentation felt interesting. I may do more of this in the future.
4. Your short instrumental 'Minimum Descent Altitude' is named after a term in aviation, when did your love of plane spotting begin? What sparked it?
I grew up in the 80s and 90s when flying was very expensive and uncommon. It was rare to see planes. Then I started uni in London and would occasionally go to all the way to Heathrow, sometimes to pick up a friend or drop them off and would use the opportunity to visit the observation deck.
Yearning has always played a big role in my life, yearning to be somewhere else, yearning to be at home. I reckon watching planes has always fulfilled this longing and leaves room for dreaming. If you start thinking about it, it is such an amazing feat to be able to go to an airport, step into a metal tube and step out on a different continent several hours later.
5. Tell us about the recording of that piece, was that something quick to put together?
It’s one of my favourite songs. I often really love the instrumental versions of my songs, and making them work with vocals can get very distracting. Vocals sometimes suck all the attention out of music, because we’re hardwired as humans to hear the human voice and to focus on it. You have to make your brain work to hear the music behind the vocals. I write most songs as instrumentals first and then add vocals, and then usually have to re-write the song to fit the vocals. So it was a relief to be able to let that go for a couple of songs on this album.
6. 'Don't Go Back To '89' is based around time travel in its theme, why 1989 specifically?
The reason for this is really basic :) Some syllables are easier to sing than others. It’s the way the words flow with the melody. If I had gone for the truthful year I was vying for, it would have had to have been 1981. But for some reason that didn’t quite flow as well when singing. (1981 is the year the person, who the song is about, died.)
7. The sound in 'Look at Everything, Understand Nothing' is mesmerising, did it take a lot of practice and patience to build this track with the accordion?
Thank you very much! I’m really proud of this one because it is in large parts about my Dad. He suffers from dementia, so it was important to me to make use of a sound that doesn’t focus too hard but hovers around the edges, if that makes any sense. He is very musical, and has a beautiful Hohner Erica accordion that was handed down to him from his Dad. Since the accordion only has buttons but not keys, it was actually quite hard for me to find, learn and play the melody line. That track is an exploration really, and deliberately a bit “foggy” with levels of noise layered underneath.
8. You've previously said you consciously try to keep from writing full despair into your lyrics, always adding an element of a silver lining. Have you ever written something that's gone to that place that remains unreleased? What was it called?
No, the song that comes closest to that place is ’No Moon’ from my debut album. It chronicles my mother’s last week in the hospice. I describe the room she was in and my absolute despair at her just disappearing in front of my eyes. I’m very proud of that song, and it feels like a bit of a Chorusgirl hit. However, I noticed that occasionally at gigs, when I started paying attention to the lyrics and singing it with full conviction, it made me really sad and occasionally quite upset for the duration of the song. That’s when I realised that songs take on a life after you write them, and sometimes a long life. And I didn’t want to do that to myself again. On Colapso Calypso, there are actually more songs that are a bit of a positive pep talk to myself that I will be able to cope with difficult life phases without going under.
9. You've said it's unlikely a full tour in support of this record will happen, but what about some one-off performances?
I won’t be gigging until well into next year. Since I’m my Dad’s full time carer, unfortunately can’t afford to catch Covid on the road. Venues aren’t Covid safe and audiences aren’t wearing masks anymore. That makes it a high risk environment for anyone who needs to minimise their exposure risk. I will try and do some outdoor shows next year though; I really miss playing shows.
10. With much of 'Colapso Calypso' being completed during lockdown, have you had the opportunity to continue writing since?
No, I went from completing Colapso Calypso early this year straight to making videos and then doing the PR for it. As a carer, I have to find time for Chorusgirl around caring for Dad. But I know the concept of my next release already and I’m so excited and keen to get started on it. I’m always confident about my concepts and I’m really focused when I do my song writing. I just wish I didn’t have so many time constraints; I’d be so much more prolific as an artist.
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Purchase 'Colapso Calypso' on CD, vinyl and download via Chorusgirl’s Bandcamp page. Previous releases are also available!
For more information about Chorusgirl, including possible news of live performances, visit her official website here.
Follow Chorusgirl on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @chorusgrrrl.
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